SSLA, 27, 465492+ Printed in the United States of America+

REVIEWS

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105210203

SEMANTICS (2nd ed.). John I. Saeed+ Oxford: Blackwell, 2003+ Pp+ xx 413+
$68+95 cloth, $32+95 paper+

After a long dry spell in which there were fewif anysatisfactory introductory texts
in semantics and pragmatics available, the first edition of Saeeds Semantics appeared
in 1997+ Since then, a number of other texts have appeared: de Swarts Introduction to
natural language semantics ~1998!, Kearns Semantics ~2000!, Allans Natural language
semantics ~2001!, among others+ The primary advantage of the original Saeed text as
well as this revised and updated version is its comprehensiveness+ It includes descriptive lexical semantics, an introduction to formal semantics, the cognitive approaches of
Lakoff and others, and more pragmatics than most of its competitors+
The book is divided into three parts: Part 1, Preliminaries, Part 2, Semantic Description, and Part 3, Theoretical Approaches+ Part 1 contains two chapters+ Chapter 1,
Semantics in Linguistics, introduces basic concepts and distinctions, such as reference versus sense and semantics versus pragmatics+ Chapter 2, Meaning, Thought, and
Reality, is a broad-ranging overview of issues in word meaning+ This includes sketches
of the componential approach ~which defines words in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions!, the prototype approach ~which defines words in terms of stereotypical instances, or properties, or both!, and the causal theory ~which applies most naturally
to proper names and does not postulate descriptive properties!+ This chapter includes
brief discussions of Whorfs ideas about linguistic relativity, and Fodors language of
thought hypothesis+
Part 2, Semantic Description, attempts to avoid the contentious theoretical issues
that are introduced in Part 3+ Chapter 3, Word Meaning, discusses basic semantic properties and relations of words, such as polysemy, varieties of antonymy, and causation+
Chapter 4, Sentence Relations and Truth, is essentially an introduction to propositional logic but also includes a relatively long section on presupposition+ Chapters 5
and 6 introduce further aspects of sentence semantics, such as aspect and modality
~chapter 5! and thematic relations like Agent and Theme ~chapter 6!+ The last two chapters of Part 2 concern pragmatics+ Chapter 7, Context and Inference, includes discussions of deixis, discourse analysis, and conversational implicature+ Chapter 8 is devoted
to speech acts+
Part 3 is entitled Theoretical Approaches, although it includes illustrative descriptive content as well+ Chapter 9, Meaning Components, is largely a return to issues in
lexical semantics, but from a theoretical point of view+ The chapter starts at the modem
beginning with material from Katz and Fodor ~1963! and continues with the more recent
versions of the componential approach found in the work of Jackendoff ~1990! and Pustejovsky ~1995!+ Chapter 10, Formal Semantics, contains an introduction to first-order
predicate logic with quantification+ For this edition, we also have the welcome addition
2005 Cambridge University Press 0272-2631005 $12+00

465

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Reviews

of an introduction to generalized quantifier theory, whichunlike the traditional logical analysisallows a semantic value to be assigned to quantificational noun phrase
like every student+ Saeed includes related discussions of there-be sentences and negative polarity items like any and ever+ This chapter, which is the longest in the book, also
contains sections on intensionality and dynamic semantics+ These are formal approaches
that can deal with phenomena such as intersentential pronominalization+ Chapter 11,
Cognitive Semantics, begins with a discussion of metaphor and its application in the
cognitive approach of Lakoff and his colleagues ~see, e+g+, Lakoff, 1987; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980!+ This chapter also looks at the mental spaces approach of Fauconnier ~1997!
and Langackers ~1987! cognitive grammar+
My main objection to this book is its idiosyncratic organization+ Students with whom
I used the first edition objected to the fact that the introduction to logic was split into
two widely separated sections in the book; this feature is retained in this edition+ The
discussion of word meaning also spans different chapters ~chapters 2, 3, 9, and 11!+ On
the other hand, as noted at the outset, the coverage is unusually broad and the material is generally sound and very clearly presented, making this text a valuable resource
and a useful introduction to the field+
REFERENCES
Allan, K+ ~2001!+ Natural language semantics+ Oxford: Blackwell+
de Swart, H+ ~1998!+ Introduction to natural language semantics+ Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications+
Fauconnier, G+ ~1997!+ Mappings in thought and language+ New York: Cambridge University Press+
Jackendoff, R+ ~1990!+ Semantic structures+ Cambridge, MA: MIT Press+
Katz, J+ J+, & Fodor, J+ A+ ~1963!+ The structure of a semantic theory+ Language, 39, 170210+
Kearns, K+ ~2000!+ Semantics+ New York: St+ Martins Press+
Lakoff, G+ ~1987!+ Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind+ Chicago:
University of Chicago Press+
Lakoff, G, & Johnson, M+ ~1980!+ Metaphors we live by+ Chicago: University of Chicago Press+
Langacker, R+ W+ ~1987!+ Foundations of cognitive grammar ~Vol+ 1!+ Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press+
Pustejovsky, J+ ~1995!+ The generative lexicon+ Cambridge, MA: MIT Press+

~Received 19 April 2004!

Barbara Abbott
Michigan State University

DOI: 10+10170S027226310522020X

TEACHING AND LEARNING BY DOING CORPUS ANALYSIS+ Bernard Ketteman and Georg Marko (Eds.)+ Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002+ Pp+ vii 390+ $148+00
cloth+
This substantial volume contains 23 papers selected from the Fourth International Conference on Teaching and Language Corpora ~TALC! held in Graz, Austria in the summer
of 2000+ Like many edited conference proceedings, the chapters in this book vary quite
widely in both the quality and quantity of the work presented+ Further, the substance
of some of the stronger contributionssuch as Coxhead on academic vocabulary and
Lee on a genre-specific index for the British National Corpus ~BNC!had already
appeared in journals at the time of this volumes publication ~Coxhead in TESOL Quar-

Reviews

467

terly and Lee in Language Learning and Technology!+ In his opening remarks, McEnery
salutes the widening range of topics in this volume, but I am less sanguine about the
value of adding breadth+ Certainly, the new emphasis on the role of corpora in translation studies and the teaching of translation in the final section is well motivated, but it
is less clear whether Renoufs discussion of short-dimension diachronic change or Flowerdews use of language learning diaries has much to do with the central issues in TALC+
There are, however, a number of papers that deal with the design and use of smaller,
more specialized corpora for specific groups of learners ~see the papers by Aston, Bernardini, Gavioli, and Thompson!+ Of these, Gavioli offers the most penetrating account+
She concludes that we need to distinguish more clearly between a corpus-building design
based on descriptive needs and a design based on teaching needs+ She notes that comparing results from different types of corpora helps the students to see the limits to
their generalizations more clearly ~pp+ 300301!+ Furthermore, in a particularly wellwritten retrospective account of the compilation of the large BNC, Burnard even concludes that this corpus is not really representative of the language as a whole but is au
fond a collection of specialist corpora+
Another group of papers explores data-driven inductive or discovery learning, for
which corpus linguistics is, of course, particularly well suited+ The contributions by
Bernardini and Johns are both instructive in this regard, but in this section, the most
interesting and unusual paper is Mairs account of the role of corpora for advanced
speakers of English in Germany+ He argues that skillful use of corpora can foster nativelike language awareness, can reduce the mystical authority often attached to native
speakers in German departments of English, and can reduce possible feelings of insecurity and inferiority on the part of non-native speaking language professionals ~p+ 124!+
In this way, Mair offers some fresh insights into the complex issues with which the
language teaching professions are correctly concerned surrounding the role and status
of nonnative language teachers+
Some of the more technical pieces, such as Wible, Chien, Kuo, and Wang and Berglund and Mason, will be of lesser interest to readers of SSLA+ This might also apply to
a number of the pieces that use corpus linguistics to discuss features of the English
language+ For example, Mindt claims to have produced a new corpus-based grammar
for ELT or ESL; however, much of the detail in this chapter seems very reminiscent of
Palmers work, such as the treatment of catenative verbs+ What might be new is the use
of some frequency data that was not easily available in the 1960s and 1970s+ For instance,
Mindt shows that start to and starting are both common in all registers, whereas begin
ing is much rarer than begin to+ ~Findings that I easily confirmed in the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English and in Hylands corpus of 240 research articles+!
As I intimated at the outset, this is an uneven volume, although it is well edited and
includes an index+ Indeed, I suspect that even the more substantial papers might not be
of great interest to many readers of this journal+ Corpus linguistics is more of a methodology than a subfield, and it is unfortunate that few papers in this volume attempt to
cross over to other areas of applied linguistics+ Two notable exceptions are the papers
on lexical acquisition by Coxhead and Lenko-Szymanska, the latter of which I would
single out for its methodological approach+ Finally, I would recommend Burnard for his
honesty, Mair for his sensitivity, and Gavioli for her insights+

~Received 19 April 2004!

John M. Swales
University of Michigan

468

Reviews

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105230206

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: A RESOURCE BOOK FOR STUDENTS. Howard Jackson+ London: Routledge, 2002+ Pp+ vii 202+ $25+95 paper+
This volume provides a readable, interactive, and complete introduction to basic areas
of English grammar that includes words and sentences, parts of speech and their role
in sentences, verb patterns, clauses and phrases, and areas of vocabulary including
word class, word formation, and jargon+ The text aims to encourage @students# to analyze the language that @they# hear and read in @their# daily life ~pp+ viiviii!+ It does so
in two ways+ First, concepts are presented inductively; that is, readers are asked to
work with language samplesmany authentic excerpts of written and spoken textin
order to understand the concepts before the author explains key ideas+ These interactive tasks encourage readers to play with language, drawing on and extending what
they already know about English grammar and vocabulary+ Second, it uses grammar
terminology consistently and sparingly, a wise decision given that the books target readers are new to the field+
This British text adopts a format that is quite novel in comparison to similar texts
published in the United States+ Rather than presenting all information about a single
topic in one long chapter, the book adopts a modular format that breaks down the treatment of each topic into four sections; each section considers the same topics in increasing complexity and depth and provides increasingly rich discourse contexts+ The first
section introduces concepts and terms associated with the topics covered in the book+
The second section subdivides each topic further, providing even more linguistic information+ The third section asks readers to apply concepts learned in the previous two
sections to longer stretches of discourse+ The final section comprises a collection of
excerpted chapters from books by experts on the various topics covered in the first
three sections+ This approach to conveying linguistic concepts allows instructors to
use the text flexibly and acknowledges that studentsespecially in applied linguistics
programsdo not all come to the field with the same background in the study of grammar or linguistics+
Jackson is also bold in using the textbook format to teach grammatical and lexical
concepts inductively+ Although the approach adopted here flouts standard university
lecture-style presentation of information and might not appeal to students who are deductive learners, it will appeal to many students and instructors+ Additionally, such a taskbased approach lends itself well to self-study+ The tasks themselves are thoughtfully
constructed and useful+ Unlike many texts that present the same basic grammatical and
lexical concepts, the author makes a concerted effort to move students beyond working at the word or sentence level+ Most of the tasks in the third section ask students to
locate grammatical structures within extended texts and specify their meaning and function+ Even when the task requires readers to work with isolated, invented sentences,
the result is a greater understanding of functional or semantic constraints of the given
forms+ In a typical sentence-based activity, students examine verbs in sentences to determine whether all verbs are doing words ~p+ 37!, an innovative way to distinguish verb
lexical aspect+
A final noteworthy aspect of the book is its consistent treatment of lexical and semantic issues+ Like most books of its type, this volume covers such topics as word classes,
word morphology, and processes for word formation+ Unlike other volumes, this coverage is detailed and extends to comprehensive discussions of jargon, dialect, and spe-

Reviews

469

cialized vocabulary+ However, the fact that the vocabulary sections draw largely on
British English might be problematic for some readers+ The author makes an excellent
effort to include vocabulary items from many World Englishes; nonetheless, the words
in some of the vocabulary-focused tasks are drawn from British English and its many
dialects and will be difficult to work with for readers outside the United Kingdom+
Although it has much to commend it, this volume will have a hard time finding a
home in the American teaching and learning context+ Although it would make an excellent text in an Introduction to Language course for undergraduates in a linguistics
department, it seems perhaps less appropriate in Applied Linguistics MA programs
because the material presented is too basic and not focused in such a way as to be
easily adopted for pedagogical grammar courses+ For this reason, it is likely to be used
as a resource text but not adopted as a course text+
~Received 13 May 2004!

Christine Holten
UCLA

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105240202

AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH PHONOLOGY. April McMahon+ Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2002+ Pp+ x 148+ $24+95 paper+
Unlike many other introductory textbooks that focus specifically on English phonology
~Carr, 1999; Giegerich, 1992; Roach, 2000!, McMahons text does not begin with the
mechanics of how English vowels and consonants are produced but rather focuses first
on the heart of phonology: the phoneme+ Although the book is slim, it adequately covers the same topics that comparable books cover, and McMahons strength comes from
apt metaphors and clear explanations that help the reader comprehend difficult concepts+
For example, McMahon explains that two sounds that are separate phonemes are
the same, but different ~p+ 12!+ She notes that although this might sound contradictory, it is an everyday phenomenon no different from noting that a left and right shoe
are very similar in some ways but also very different+ To illustrate the phonetic0phonemic
distinction, McMahon invokes graphemes as a very effective metaphor: Lowercase and
uppercase letters are realizations of an ideal letter a+ This ideal never actually appears
because as we write it, we invoke a specific instantiation of that ideal+ This corresponds to our conception of an abstract entity known as a phoneme, which is only ever
realized as a specific instantiation of some phonetically specifiable sound but still exists
outside that sound nevertheless+ McMahon does a superb job of making her idea clear
through metaphor+
Another welcome aspect of the book is the attempt to address the psychological
reality of the phoneme, by which the author demonstrates that the phoneme is not
merely a concept invented by linguists+ However, the portrait of the phoneme put forth
in this volume as well as in all the introductory English textbooks mentioned earlier is
based on a structuralist view of the phoneme as taxonomic+ Phonemes are discerned
through finding minimal pairs of sounds+ Giegerich ~1992! specifically noted in his preface that the simple phonology espoused in these kinds of texts is not taken seriously
by modern phonologists, but the idea seems to be that in an introductory class, students should not have to contend with theory+ A structuralist approach is thus chosen

470

Reviews

to be the least theory-specific approach for students to grasp+ McMahon, although following in this same vein, tries to specifically deal with some problems ~e+g+, neutralization! that might arise from such a simple view+ However, this attempt also leads her to
bring in some outdated concepts+ For example, she says that for those who pronounce
the vowel in Mary, marry, and merry in the same way, the archiphoneme 0E0 could be
placed before 0r0+ Concepts such as phonological features, feature geometry, or lexical
phonology are not introduced+
McMahon treats not only American and British English but also provides a rather
thorough examination of Scottish English+ For example, at one point, she gives detailed
information about distinct vowel realizations of 27 words from a standard lexical set
for these 3 varieties of English as well as New Zealand and Singaporean English+
The book deliberately has few articulatory diagrams+ McMahon states in the Introduction that she finds diagrams hard to decipher and that she would prefer students
use introspection+ Although her explanations are often clear enough to forego diagrams,
the presence of both would seem to address the needs of those who learn better visually+ An IPA summary chart with consonants and vowels combined would have also been
helpful+ There are generally about four exercises for each chapter, which are often interesting and thought-provoking and for which answers are provided+ However, these exercises alone might not provide enough practice for an entire lessons worth of homework+
In addition to the phoneme and articulatory descriptions of vowels and consonants,
the book includes chapters about word stress and about syllable structure and weight+
McMahon provides helpful guides at the end of each chapter to lead readers to more
advanced discussion on each topic+
All in all, the book provides about the same level of coverage as Carr ~1999! and
does so clearly and concisely+ It would be appropriate for undergraduate-level courses
on phonology as well as for those seeking to gain a very basic understanding on their
own+ Those looking for more information about intonation and more exercises would
do well to consult Roach ~2000!, whereas Giegerich ~1992! provides more detail than
McMahon on subsequent developments toward a more abstract conception of the phoneme, including features, X-tiers, and generative phonology+
REFERENCES
Carr, P+ ~1999!+ English phonetics and phonology+ Oxford: Blackwell+
Giegerich, H+ J+ ~1992!+ English phonology: An introduction+ New York: Cambridge University Press+
Roach, P+ ~2000!+ English phonetics and phonology: A practical course ~3rd ed+!+ New York: Cambridge
University Press+

~Received 8 June 2004!

Jenifer Larson-Hall
University of North Texas

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105250209

APPLIED LINGUISTICS. Guy Cook+ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003+

Pp+ vii 134+ 8+95 paper+
This volume is the latest in the Oxford Introductions to Language study series, edited
by H+ G+ Widdowson, and, as such, it provides a general and gradual introduction to the

Reviews

471

field through the use of intelligently crafted prose that facilitates the nonspecialists ability to grasp the general concepts and controversies in this discipline+ In this regard,
Cooks book is intended for a different audience than other books on applied linguistics
meant for specialists in the field ~e+g+, McCarthy, 2001; McDonough, 2002; Seidlhofer, 2003!+
In keeping with the format of these other introductory volumes, Applied linguistics
contains four parts: a survey ~an up-to-date overview of the area concerned!, readings
~selected readings in the field accompanied by study questions!, references ~a selection
of annotated references!, and a glossary ~cross-referenced to the survey!+
The survey section briefly introduces the reader to the conceptual background underlying the following themes: applied linguistics; prescribing and describing; popular and
academic views of correctness; languages in the contemporary world; English language
teaching; language and communication; context and culture; persuasion and poetics:
rhetoric and resistance; and past, present, and future directions+
The section containing selected readings in the field of applied linguistics provides
the reader with a brief abstract of the texts that serves as an advance organizer and
contextualizer for the selection that follows+ This is especially useful for novice readers
in the field who do not already grasp the theoretical, social, and political issues that
impact the work of applied linguists+ Each text is then followed by several discussion
questions that ask the reader to compare, contrast, and critically examine the ideas
expressed in the text+
The critically annotated list of references provides a progressive scale that evaluates the accessibility of each reference to the general publicfor example, from introductory to advanced-level texts that require more linguistics background+ The glossary
also serves as a rudimentary index to the book, given that it provides cross-references
to certain page numbers in the book on which a term is discussed+
In chapter 1, the author sets the stage for establishing the need for applied linguistics, the academic discipline concerned with the relation of knowledge about language to decision making in the real world ~p+ 5!+ He does so by presenting the reader
with a series of thought-provoking questions about language that need to be addressed
~e+g+, Should children speaking a dialect be encouraged to maintain it or steered toward
the standard form of a language? ~And, if so, how is that standard form decided, and
by whom?! ~p+ 4!!+ This volume prides itself on its socially activist approach to the
field insofar as it continually advocates the idea that those charged with decisionmaking regarding a linguistic problem should seek relevant advice in a practical and
expedient manner ~p+ 77! from various disciplines+ The impetus for action would thus
be relocated to within the problem itself, and the direction of influence would flow
from the practitioners to the applied linguists; it is only then that this call for action
would reach academic linguists, psychologists, sociologists, and so forth, and not vice
versa+
Cooks writing style in this volume is quite engagingterse, informative, and totally
unapologetic for its postmodernist advocacy of a critical stance toward traditional grand
narratives and toward the political use of seemingly innocuous terms with underlying
hegemonic implications ~e+g+, native speaker!+ Cook is also quite critical of academic
~formal! linguists, whose allegedly superior attitude causes them to isolate themselves
from controversies involving the use of language in everyday life by focusing on knowledge as an end in itself rather than with the action based upon that knowledge ~p+ 17!+
However, the author clearly states that such withdrawal from the real world is not an
option for applied linguists, who are committed to engaging the linguistically related
problems of the world and to influencing decision-makers+

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Reviews

Although the author provides a thoughtful, reasoned justification for the work of
applied linguists, Cooks unabashed criticism of academic ~formal! linguistics might lead
the novice reader to summarily devalue the work of scholars in those fields, whose
cognitive approach to the study of language has provided valuable insights into the
nature of language and the mind over the past several decades+ Additionally, the complete lack of in-text references that makes the book accessible to nonspecialists might
frustrate readers with more background in linguistics+
In sum, Cooks zealous approach to the field of applied linguistics is invigorating,
and his book will be read with interest by linguists and nonspecialists alike+ Applied
linguists, especially, will be inspired to strengthen their resolve by this insightful advocacy for their engagement with the world as citizen-scholars+
REFERENCES
McCarthy, M+ ~2001!+ Issues in applied linguistics+ New York: Cambridge University Press+
McDonough, S+ ~2002!+ Applied linguistics in language education+ London: Arnold+
Seidlhofer, B+ ~2003!+ Controversies in applied linguistics+ Oxford: Oxford University Press+

~Received 10 June 2004!

Barbara A. Lafford
Arizona State University

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105260205

AN INTRODUCTION TO PRAGMATICS: SOCIAL ACTION FOR LANGUAGE

TEACHERS. Virginia LoCastro+ Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press,
2003+ Pp+ xi 366+ $27+50 paper+
This book is intended as a textbook for students in language teaching training programs and fulfills this goal as a readable and comprehensive introduction to the field of
pragmatics with an emphasis on topics that inform second language research and teaching+ Respect for this diverse audience is reflected in the examples selected, which come
from a variety of languages and social contexts+ Although I am not wholly positive about
some aspects of the presentation of the material, as will be shown, overall the text is
one I would recommend+
Features of this volume that contribute to its value as a textbook are, on the one
hand, the discussion questions and tasks at the end of each chapter and, on the other,
the texts for analysis+ Although discussion questions are rather common in textbooks,
these go beyond general comprehension questions and contain questions suitable for
both in-class discussions and written assignments+ More importantly, each and every
chapter contains a final transcribed text with a specific task for the students to complete+ These are exactly the kind of assignments that allow students to make connections between theory and practice and between practice and research+ These sections
make this book a valuable resource for teachers of courses on general linguistics and
intercultural communication as well as for teachers of the more obviously related subjects of pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis+

Reviews

473

The organization of the book is as follows: Part 1, Basic Concepts, contains six
chapters; Part 2 contains three chapters that fall under the rubric of Analytical Perspectives: Theories of Pragmatic Meaning; and Part 3, entitled Pragmatics and the
Real World, contains six chapters that move the study of pragmatics into a more applied
arena+ Although the organization of the text is not flawlesssome connections between
topics are lost and some topics are covered twiceit builds gradually from basic concepts to more complex theories and integrates all of these aspects of the study of pragmatics in thematic discussions in the last section+
Part 1 includes chapter 1, What Is Pragmatics?, chapter 2, Meaning, chapter 3,
Indexicality, chapter 4, Entailment and Presupposition, chapter 5, Information Structures, and chapter 6, Face, Politeness, and Indirectness+ Although space does not
allow a more in-depth discussion of these chapters, they provide a clear presentation
of the basic concepts, as advertised+ Highpoints include the application of Cicourels
framework for the three levels of information in chapter 2 and the discussion of deixis
in chapter 3+
Part 2 moves on to pragmatic theories: Gricean pragmatics is presented in chapter 7, preference organization, speech acts, and ethnography of speaking are presented
in chapter 8, and relevance theory and action theory are presented in chapter 9+ Although
adequate overall, this section is the one most troubled by organizational problems+
Because indirectness has been discussed in a previous chapter, the connection between
indirectness and implicature is not as clearly presented as would be desirable in chapter 7, although the discussion of Grice is otherwise very good+ The discussion of speech
act theory is also quite good, but in my mind, it deserves its own chapter+ Indeed, chapter 8 is generally somewhat problematic; although entitled Sociolinguistic Approaches,
only one of the approaches discussed ~ethnography of speaking! falls into what I would
call sociolinguistics+ ~Preference organization and speech act theory, although relevant
for sociolinguists, would more appropriately be described as parts of the field of discourse analysis+! Contrary to the preceding chapter, the final chapter in this section,
which discusses relevance theory and action theory, is very well done and presents
these two complex theories very clearly+
Part 3 of the book, Pragmatics in the Real World, seeks to integrate the material
already covered while simultaneously looking at issues in pragmatics that are of particular concern to language teachers+ Chapter 10 is entitled Behavior of Listeners but
really covers many issues linked to speaker role in conversation+ The chapters on Crosscultural Pragmatics and Interlanguage Pragmaticschapters 11 and 12, respectively
are especially well done, although there is some repetition; a combination of these two
chapters might have worked better, even though each one admittedly covers much
ground+ The chapters on Politeness Revisited ~chapter 13!, Learner Subjectivity ~chapter 14!, and Pragmatics in the Classroom ~chapter 15! are also successful in integrating previously introduced concepts into the discussion of language teaching-oriented
issues+
This book, although versatile enough to be used in any course on pragmatics, is an
ideal text for MA students in Teaching English as a Second Language or Teaching English
as a Foreign Language programs+ In this respect, it is a welcome and unique addition to
the field+

~Received 14 June 2004!

Janet M. Fuller
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

474

Reviews

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105270201

ASPECTS OF THE SYNTAX, THE PRAGMATICS, AND THE PRODUCTION OF

CODE-SWITCHING: CANTONESE AND ENGLISH. Brian Hok-Shing Chan+ Bern:
Peter Lang, 2003+ Pp+ ix 333+ $74+95 cloth+
Are there syntactic constraints to code-switching? Based on Chans University College
London dissertation, this book argues that code-switched utterances are constrained
by the same set of mechanisms that govern monolingual utterances+ Building on the
work of Mahootian ~1993! and MacSwan ~1997!, Chan makes two additional claims+ First,
he argues that functional categories and lexical categories behave differently in codeswitching+ These differences lead him to distinguish between functional and lexical categories in the production process+ Second, he extends his initial argument to claim that
code-switching and pure languages are governed by the same set of constraints and
principles not only for syntax but also for production and pragmatics+
After a brief introduction, the book begins with a critical review of the literature on
syntactic constraints to code-switching+ Chan concludes that the best approach is a
null theorythat is, that there are no constraints that apply specifically to codeswitching+ Chapters 3 through 6 focus on the differences between functional categories
and lexical categories in code-switching, with the first two of these chapters devoted to
word order and the final two to c-selection and s-selection+ The scope of these chapters is broad, and Chan offers examples from language pairs as diverse as French-Wolof
and Tamil-English+ In fact, given that Chan does not focus on Cantonese-English data
until chapter 5, which is situated about half-way through the book, the title of the book
is a bit misleading+
Chan claims that functional categories and lexical categories undergo different production processes and that this difference accounts for their different selection properties; for Chan, these production processes are the same in both monolinguals and
bilinguals+ Chapter 7 deals with the dual nature of prepositions in code-switching and
the ways in which they behave like both a lexical category and a functional category+
Although many treatments of code-switching have been confined to syntactic processes, in chapter 8 Chan moves on to discuss the pragmatics of code-switching+ He
applies Sperber and Wilsons ~1995! relevance theory and concludes that code-switching
is motivated by the desire of speakers to optimize the relevance of their messages+
This goal of optimizing relevance is true for both monolingual and bilingual speakers+
Thus, as in his earlier discussion of syntax and production, Chan finds that a single
theory can be used to explain both monolingual and code-switching utterances+
Due in part to the organization of the text, the main arguments of this book are very
clear+ The key points of the book as a whole are lucidly outlined in the first chapter,
Preliminaries and in the ninth chapter Conclusions+ Additionally, the author provides an introduction and summary of the chapters in the body of the book that serve
to focus the readers attention on the main points+ The book is thus accessible to readers without a strong background in this area+ SLA researchers interested in the three
areas of code-switching discussed in this volumesyntax, production, and pragmatics
should find this book of interest+
REFERENCES
MacSwan, J+ ~1997!+ A minimalist approach to intra-sentential code-switching: Spanish-Nahuatl bilingualism in Central Mexico+ Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los
Angeles+

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475

Mahootian, S+ ~1993!+ A null theory of code-switching+ Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, Chicago+
Sperber, D+, & Wilson, D+ ~1995!+ Relevance: Communication and cognition ~2nd ed+!+ Oxford: Blackwell+

~Received 16 June 2004!

Jan Bernsten
University of Michigan-Flint

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105280208

EXTENDING THE SCOPE OF CORPUS-BASED RESEARCH: NEW APPLICATIONS, NEW CHALLENGES. Sylviane Granger and Stephanie Petch-Tyson (Eds.)+
Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2003+ Pp+ 261+ $81+00 cloth+

The theme of the 2001 International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English
conference was Future Challenges for Corpus Linguistics+ Some of these challenges
include the need for improved methodological standardization, for a clearer link between
corpus-based research and linguistic theory, and for further research into the application of corpus linguistics in language teaching+ The chapters in this edited volume of
proceedings from the conference show how corpus-based research has begun to address
these challenges+
The book is divided into three sections: Corpora and Methodology, Corpora in
Language Description, and Corpora in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching+ The
first of these sections deals with the improvement of corpus-based methodologies+ The
papers by Wallis and by de Mnnink, Brom, and Oostdijk highlight the need for reproducibility in corpus research+ Wallis illustrates how the scientific method is applied in
corpus linguistics through a description of experiments using parsed corpora, whereas
de Mnnink et al+ test the reproducibility of Bibers Multidimensional Analysis+ Renouf
and Peters and Smith address the use of the Internet as a corpus resource+ Renouf
describes WebCorp, a tool that allows corpus linguists to access the Internet in a more
research-oriented manner than traditional search engines+ Peters and Smith examine
the way the electronic medium has an impact on text structure, highlighting differences between documents created for an electronic medium and those created for a
print medium+ Finally, Oostdijk looks at the impact disfluencies have on spoken corpora, particularly with regard to the parsing of spoken data+
The second section of the book, Corpora in Language Description, reflects the
wide variety of topics that corpus-based research has addressed+ The papers by Gotti
and Nurmi both examine aspects of modal usage in Early Modern English+ Mukherjee
adds to the emerging area of spoken corpus research with a demonstration of how
corpus data support a theoretical model of linguistic structures ~known as talk units!
that are formed through the interaction of syntactic and prosodic features+ The three
chapters by Kettemann, Knig, and Marko, Kjellmer, and Hajar and Rahim describe
corpus-based approaches to lexical research+ Ketteman et al+ compare data from the
Oxford English Dictionary with data from the British National Corpus, whereas Kjellmer examines lexical gaps in the Cobuild corpus and Hajar and Rahim use corpus data
to study code-switching by Malay native speakers ~NSs! writing in English+ In the last

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chapter in this section, Sampson uses data from a grammatically annotated corpus to
describe the development of the structural aspects of the writing produced by NS
children+
Of most relevance for SLA researchers is the third section of the book, which deals
with corpora and foreign language teaching and learning+ The first two chapters in this
section present corpus-based studies of learners written interlanguage, as represented
in the International Corpus of Learner English: Aronsson compares the use of it-clefts
and pseudoclefts in the writing of advanced Swedish learners of English and NSs and
explains the Swedish learners overuse of these structures in terms of information structure, whereas Neff et al+ describe a contrastive study of the use of modal and reporting
verbs in the expression of stance by French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and German learners of English+ The last chapters explore the integration of corpus-based tools into the
foreign language classroom+ Schmied describes German students use of and reactions
to the Chemnitz Internet Grammar, an electronic hypertext grammar of English that provides learners with authentic corpus-based examples+ In the final chapter, Prez-Paredes
discusses how a networked computer-assisted language learning environment can be
used to collect oral interlanguage data and how the resulting corpus can be used in the
classroom+
As a whole, the papers in this volume give the reader an excellent view of the current state of corpus-based research+ Because many of the chapters require some background in corpus-based research methods, this book is not for those new to the field of
corpus linguistics+ It should be of interest to researchers and language educators with
a basic understanding of corpus-based work who wish to gain a view of some of the
recent advances in the field+

~Received 16 June 2004!

James K. Jones
Northern Arizona University

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105290204

DISCOURSE INTONATION IN L2: FROM THEORY AND RESEARCH TO PRACTICE. Dorothy M. Chun+ Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2002+ Pp+ xvii 285+ CD-ROM+
$52+95 paper+

The objectives of this book are to emphasize the importance of intonation within the
discourse domain and to draw upon research to suggest ways of teaching discoursebased intonation to second language ~L2! learners+ This book is organized in three parts+
The first provides an overview of linguistic theories on prosodic elements+ In this part,
the author discusses four major categories of intonation according to function: grammatical ~e+g+, using intonation to mark prominence or stress!, affective ~e+g+, to express
attitudes or emotions!, sociolinguistic ~e+g+, to signal politeness!, and, importantly in
this book, discourse ~e+g+, to contribute to cohesion in speech!+ Part 2 takes a look back
at L2 research on pronunciation and intonation and the early teaching focus on individ-

Reviews

477

ual sounds+ This leads to the discussion of the current and future direction for teaching
that emphasizes the discourse level of speech with an eye toward developing interactional competence at the macro level of communication+ Studies have shown that
improvement in the functional use of prosody contributes to higher production ratings
for L2 speakers ~Wennerstrom, 1998!+
Part 3 begins with a brief review of traditional materials in and approaches to the
teaching of intonation, followed by suggestions on the teaching of stress, rhythm, and
intonation within the aforementioned major functional categories+ Chun encourages the
use of authentic speech and interactions as a basis for pedagogical models of intonation in order to capture the context-dependent nature of the interpretation of intonation+ The pedagogical guidelines in Part 3 are supplemented by numerous figures showing
the application of recent technological developments that allow the visualization of pitch
contours, waveforms, and amplitude curves+ These displays are not only helpful for the
purpose of informing nonlinguists but also demonstrate the contribution that technology can make in the teaching of L2 prosody, given that these visual displaysespecially
the pitch contoursare sources of informative feedback for learners in their L2 production ~Hardison, 2004!+
The companion CD-ROM, which requires Flash 5 player and QuickTime 5 ~or
newer versions!, plays the examples that correspond to figure numbers in the text+ Most
of the figures were generated by a Web-based software program accessible to other
researchers and teachers+ Chun notes that computer-based speech tools can be effective in the recording and analysis of natural speech samples and in the teaching of the
communicative and sociocultural functions of discourse-level communication by providing visual displays of speech components+ Moreover, these tools provide immediate
feedback to improve perception and production+ They can also serve as data collection
tools that allow a researcher to record learner performance over time+
The book has a very readable style and provides theoretical foundations for its practical applications+ To demonstrate crosslinguistic contrasts in prosodic elements, reference is made to German, French, Spanish, and Chinese, in addition to English+ This also
emphasizes that the role of technology in teaching intonation and the importance of
natural contextualized speech input are applicable to the teaching of languages other
than English+ The CD-ROM brings to life the complexities of intonation, highlights the
contribution of technology in this field, and underscores the need to raise awareness of
the patterns and functions of intonation as well as the need to teach prosody in context using natural speech samples+ The content of the book is accessible to nonspecialists and will be of particular interest to language teachers and researchers in L2 speech,
pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics+

REFERENCES
Hardison, D+ M+ ~2004!+ Generalization of computer-assisted prosody training: Quantitative and qualitative findings+ Language Learning and Technology, 8, 3452+
Wennerstrom, A+ ~1998!+ Intonation as cohesion in academic discourse: A study of Chinese speakers
of English+ Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 125+

~Received 18 June 2004!

Debra M. Hardison
Michigan State University

478

Reviews

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105300209

NOUN COMBINATION IN INTERLANGUAGE: TYPOLOGY EFFECTS IN COMPLEX DETERMINER PHRASES. Christiane Bongartz+ Tbingen: Niemeyer, 2002+
Pp+ xv 161+ 48+00 Y paper+
Bongartzs monograph uses a crosslinguistic typological approach to examine the impact
of first language ~L1! noun combination strategies on the development of analogic interlanguage forms+ A three-language comparison of the typologically distinct languages
Czech, Chinese, and English shows two basic noun combination patterns: phrasal combinations and the use of incorporation strategies for the creation of compounds+ Czech
prefers phrasal combinations, English allows for both phrasal combinations and compounds, whereas Chinese is at the opposite end of the typological continuum insofar as
it demonstrates a preference for compounds+ Empirical data from Czech and Chinese
learners of English as a second language reveal that L1 combination preferences indeed
affect which English strategy is chosen: Czech learners use phrasal combinations more
often and Chinese learners prefer compounds+
Bongartz opens with a detailed treatment of each of the three theories that form the
backbone for her study: typology theory, transfer theory, and Chomskys Minimalist
Program and Universal Grammar ~UG!+ Although, in the past, these theories were thought
to be incompatible, the author states that the emerging lines of convergence ~p+ 2!
among them allow for a more complete analysis, adding that absolute approaches do
not work ~p+ 11!+ She then develops a theoretical framework that uses UG and language transfer research as the base theories and language typology research as the
bridge between them+ The convergence of these approaches is further situated within
Chomskys Minimalist Program+
Next, Bongartz provides an analysis of noun combinations, carefully detailing their
syntactic properties in terms of typology and universal language principles+ Noun combinations are formed by two basic processes: phrasal combinations ~the result of syntactic mergers! and compounds ~the result of lexical mergers!+ Phrasal combinations
are marked by the use of a preposition ~e+g+, a song about love!, whereas compounds
consist of a possessive DP, prenominal modifier, and incorporation structures ~e+g+, a
love song!+ Although there exist various possibilities for the ways in which nouns combine ~among them, compounding, transforming, etc+!, incorporation is preferred in this
experiment, as it avoids the necessity of differentiating between syntactic and lexical
processes when dealing with noun compounds and their phrasal counterparts ~p+ 25!+
Bongartz, using Klein and Perdues ~1997! basic variety theory, proposes that L1 influence will most likely occur when the target language + + + has two options to express the
intended meaning + + + learners will choose the option that is closest to their L1 given
the variation ~p+ 4!+
The empirical study examines whether or not L1 preferences play a role in the development of noun combination strategies in the interlanguage grammar+ She provides a
contrastive analysis of noun patterns in general and then turns to the three languages
in question+ In terms of language typology, Czech ~an inflected language! and Chinese
~an isolating language! fall on opposite ends of the continuum, with English falling somewhere in between+ Three groups of participantsCzech learners of English, Chinese
learners of English, and a control group of native English speakersperformed a series
of productive tasks ~dyadic interviews, picture elicitation, and story-telling! as well as
completed a grammaticality judgment task+ Within each of the experimental groups,

Reviews

479

learners were further divided by proficiency level, which resulted in six high-proficiency
and six intermediate-proficiency participants for each language+
Results of the productive tasks completely support a role for L1 typology in learner
choices for noun combination patterns ~p+ 132!+ Czech learners demonstrated a marked
preference for phrasal combinations, whereas Chinese learners preferred incorporation structures+ Proficiency was a factor in both groups, with higher-proficiency learners consistently showing greater diversification of form+ The results of the grammaticality
judgment task were inconclusive because of task design problems+
Bongartz concludes that the typological intersections of the language groups affect
learner preferences and interlanguage grammar development+ Interlanguage grammars
are contact-induced systems ~p+ 146!, and the typological intersections explain why
language groups tend to use one means of producing a noun combination over another+
This work, which is based on Bongartzs award-winning dissertation ~recipient of
the Emma Marie Birkmaier Dissertation Award from ACTFL and the MLJ in 1999!, provides helpful insight into three understudied areas: the development of interlanguage,
language typology, and noun combination research+ As Bongartz points out, without
nouns there is no language, and learners are forced to use them in order to communicate+ Noun combinations are a very productive part of language, and the ways in which
languages go about developing new combinations is a task with which the learner must
contend+ The author does an excellent job of synthesizing the literature from the various component approaches into a readable and accessible work+ Moreover, she provides valuable empirical data to support her conclusions+
REFERENCE
Klein, W+, & Perdue, C+ ~1997!+ The basic variety+ Second Language Research, 13, 301347+

~Received 25 June 2004!

Lisa DeWaard Dykstra

University of Iowa

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105310205

ACCENTS AND SPEECH IN TEACHING ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY. Ewa Waniek-Klimczak and Patrick James Melia (Eds)+ Bern: Peter Lang,
2002+ Pp+ 358+ $62+95 paper+
This volume is a potpourri of articles written mostly by Polish scholars ~all but four
authors are from Polish universities; the others are from universities in Croatia, Slovenia, and England!+ Because of the shear number of articles ~24!, space limitations preclude my providing more than a brief summary and comments+
This collection has no introduction or preface; the only clue to the contents and
focus of this work is on the back cover, which states that it contains contributions from
those involved in teaching pronunciation and those more concerned with theoretical
phonetics and phonology+ The book is organized in three sections: Accents, Speech,
and Applications+

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Reviews

The first section, Accents, contains articles about British accents and purports to
discuss the issue of which accent to use as the reference accent in teaching+ It includes
papers on Received Pronuncation ~RP; Wells!, students awareness of the sociosymbolic values of RP ~Ozga & Mankowska!, Estuary English ~Przedlacka!, yod-palatalization
~Gowacka!, free variation analyzed in an Optimality Theory framework ~Ostalski!, and
t-glottalization in teenage speech ~Przedlacka!+ Except for a few passing remarks, in none
of the articles was I was able to find any discussion of the issue of which variety to use
in teaching pronunciation+ The result is that this section serves mainly to raise the awareness of teachers and teacher trainers of the fact that a great deal of variation exists in
British English ~if they did not know that already! and of the fact that selecting a reference accent is no easy task+
The second section, Speech, is claimed to address the context for teaching phonetics and phonology as well as teacher training with an emphasis on awareness raising+ Articles include arguments promoting the teaching of phonology ~Szpyra!, including
formal teaching of pronunciation and conscious competence ~Dziubalska-Koaczyk!,
an assessment of the quality of expertise prospective teachers derive from training
~Majer!, and three separate studies reporting the results of surveys on attitudes and
practices in teaching pronunciation ~Majer, Sobkowiak, and Waniek-Klimczaki!+ This section would seem to be of interest primarily to those teaching in Poland but probably
would not have much general appeal+
The third section, Applications, contains 12 articles ~although some are as short
as five pages!+ This part purportedly includes studies on interlanguage phonetics and
phonology, speech processing, and pronunciation teaching+ Such a description forewarns the reader that there could be no unifying theme to this section, and the articles
themselves prove this to be the case+ Roachs short article claiming that rhythm and
timing are important in successful communication presents an idea that is hardly original or controversial+ The same criticism can be leveled at Peteks article, which promotes the use of computer-assisted teaching and argues that near-native pronunciation
might not be teachable+ The other articles cover a variety of topics: a study of Croatian
English prosody ~Josipovic!, intonation patterns in turn-taking ~Baczkowska!,

stress placement by Polish learners of English ~Waniek-Kimczak!, the influence of regional variation
in Polish on obstruent voicing in English ~Lew!, reflections on the teaching of pronunciation in Polish primary and secondary schools ~Defty, Nowak, & Peitrzak!, micronarratives in face-to-face interaction ~Mamul!, perception of English obstruents ~Deska!,
a general description of connectionism ~Baczkowska!,

sensory modality preferences

~Baran!, and a phonological analysis of an aphasic child ~Ciepiela!+
This volume would seem to have more appeal to Polish teachers and researchers
than to the international community+ There does not seem to be any unifying theme to
this work, other than the general topics of phonology and pronunciation+ Although the
topics are largely limited to the Polish context, it is perhaps more important to note
that, with few exceptions, the authors did not fit their studies into the larger context of
current research in SLA or pronunciation teaching ~e+g+, one article had no references
at all and several others had fewer than half a dozen references!+ Additionally, there is
also a lack of rigor ~e+g+, the quantitative studies did not use statistics!, originality ~e+g+,
three articles were based on surveys on attitudes and practices in teaching pronunciation!, and general appeal ~e+g+, one article contained reflections on the curricula and
teaching in Polish primary and secondary schools!+ It is doubtful that many of these
articles could appear in international refereed journals+ There was also a lack of careful
editing, evidenced by the inclusion of anecdotal and mundane information, such as

Reviews

481

Barans footnote stating that pronunciation includes not only sounds but suprasegmentals as well, which are the most crucial component of intelligible speech ~p+ 316!+ This
collection of articles, therefore, has limited general appeal+
~Received 8 July 2004!

Roy C. Major
Arizona State University

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105320201

AN INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED LINGUISTICS. Norbert Schmitt (Ed.)+ London: Arnold, 2002+ Pp+ viii 344+ $72+00 cloth, $25+00 paper+
Applied linguistics is currently undergoing interesting developments connected with
new research areas and tools+ At the same time, there exist numerous introductory textbooks to various subbranches and general overviews of the discipline+ The present volume is yet another addition to the field, covering both traditional areas and approaches
as well as more recent tendencies+ In his preface, Schmitt describes the book as a broad
overview of applied linguistics written at the sophisticated introduction level ~p+ vii!+
The book is indeed broad in scope and sophisticatedly simple+ It opens with a concise
overview of applied linguistics, followed by three major parts devoted to the description of language and language use, major areas of inquiry, and language skills and assessment, respectively+ Part 1 covers grammar, vocabulary, discourse analysis, pragmatics,
and corpus linguistics+ Part 2 investigates SLA, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and
the language learner+ Finally, Part 3 covers listening, speaking and pronunciation, reading, writing, and assessment+ The book concludes with suggested solutions to the activities, references for individual chapters, and an index+ The chapters, authored by 31
leading experts, are all organized in similar fashion, with introductory discussion and
appropriate definitions, further analyses, notes on possible implementations and implications for language teaching and research, numerous quotations from source literature, annotated further readings, and stimulating hands-on activities+
The opening overview by Schmitt and Celce-Murcia provides a concise introduction
to the whole field of applied linguistics and prepares the ground for issues discussed in
the forthcoming chapters+ Applied linguistics is defined here as using what we know
about ~a! language, ~b! how it is learned, and ~c! how it is used, in order to achieve
some purpose to solve some problem in the real world ~p+ 1!+ This definition is a good
starting point for presenting the history, the present state, and further perspectives of
the discipline+ Schmitt and Celce-Murcia conclude with the remark that views on language, language learning, and language use are not static, but are constantly evolving
~p+ 15!+
In this short review, it is impossible to do justice to all contributions+ Nevertheless,
in my view, three chapters need to be singled out: the chapter on pragmatics by SpencerOatey and Zegarac, the chapter on corpus linguistics by Reppen and Simpson, and the
overview of SLA by Spada and Lightbown+
The evolutionary aspect of applied linguistics is clearly visible in the approach to
pragmatics, which encompasses different aspects of communication, context, and social
factors+ Contemporary focus on the importance of context, updating of contextual

482

Reviews

assumptions, meaning construction, and implicated meaning reflects the changing tendencies in language studies ~and language teaching!+ Spencer-Oatey and Zegarac show
the implications of pragmatics for the process of language teaching, learning, and use,
and they conclude the chapter with a note on the possibility of pragmatic transfer and
the importance of peoples sensitivity to face ~the public self-image!+
Another dynamically developing branch of linguistics is corpus linguistics, which
has recently enjoyed much popularity because it provides an extremely powerful tool
for the analysis of natural language and can provide tremendous insights as to how
language use varies in different situations ~p+ 92!+ Reppen and Simpson justify this enthusiastic claim with several analyses of data extracted from different corpora; they also
provide examples of corpus-based classroom activities ~on vocabulary and collocations! and mention some useful Web sites+ They are certainly correct in concluding this
important chapter with the following remark: The patterns of language use that can be
discovered through corpus linguistics will continue to reshape the way we think of language ~p+ 108!+
Spada and Lightbown observe that SLA has both theoretical and practical importance+ The theoretical importance is related to the understanding of how language is
represented in the mind, and the practical importance arises from the assumption that
better understanding of how languages are learned will lead to more effective teaching
~p+ 115!+ The authors provide a clear overview of relevant linguistic and psychological
perspectives and discuss the characteristics of learner language and functions of instruction in SLA+ As with other chapters, this, too, is a concise and self-contained introduction to one branch of applied linguistics+
The book is carefully produced, with good cross-referencing and ample references
for individual chapters+ It is a most welcome addition to the field: It is a comprehensive
guide to contemporary applied linguistics, ideal for teachers, students, and beginning
researchers+
~Received 9 July 2004!

Piotr Stalmaszczyk
University of Lody

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105330208

THE HANDBOOK OF HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS. Brian D. Joseph and Richard D. Janda (Eds.)+ Oxford: Blackwell, 2003+ Pp+ xviii 882+ $146+95 cloth+
This is the latest of some 15 volumes in Blackwells series Handbooks in Linguistics+
The volume reviewed herealthough not without interest to specialists in SLAis probably of less interest to readers of this journal than others of the series ~e+g+, The handbook of second language acquisition edited by Doughty & Long, 2003!+ All volumes
included in the series are handbooks only in the sense of including presentations of
basic knowledge; in reality, they are lengthy books that go well beyond such basics+
Closely related to this title is The handbook of language variation and change ~Chambers, Trudgill, & Schilling-Estes, 2003!, which is concerned with the interface of historical and sociolinguistics+

Reviews

483

The handbook of historical linguistics has a wide-ranging and entertainingif rather

dense and ramblingintroduction by the editors and includes 25 articles all written by
scholars expert on their topics ~e+g+, Bybee, Campbell, Heine, Kiparsky, Lightfoot, and
Ohala, just to mention 6!+ Articles are grouped in six sections: Methods for Studying
Language Change, Sound Change, Morphological and Lexical Change, Syntactic
Change, Pragmato-semantic Change, and Explaining Linguistic Change+
Certain chapters will be of greater interest to those working in SLA+ These include
Thomasons Contact as a Source of Language Change ~which is relevant in relation to
transfer or interference in SLA!; Heines Grammaticalization ~which discusses the reanalysis of lexical material as concerning grammarfor example, Old English one was
reduced phonetically and semantically as an indefinite article a/an!; Harriss Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Syntactic Change; Guys Variationist Approaches to Phonological Change ~which is concerned with sociolinguistic motivations in change as in usage!;
and Aitchisons Psycholinguistic Perspectives+
Historical linguistics, which is also termed diachronic linguistics ~a term employed in
the useful dichotomy of diachronic vs+ synchronic linguistics!, is the focus of language
study from which modern linguistics emerged; 19th-century studies of language relationships exposed the lawlike behavior of language, notably through the discoveries of
Grimm ~the regularity of sound change! and Verner ~the seeming exceptionlessness of
sound change!+ Saussure, whose Course in general linguistics is often credited as founding synchronic linguistics, was first a diachronic linguist+
Although diachronic linguistics was thought unimportant in Chomskian generative
linguistics and disappeared from the list of required courses in many, if not most, American universities, it might be returning to importance+ This is perhaps because of renewed
emphasis on minimalist abstract universals ~including a would-be finite list of constraints in Optimality Theory! and the realization that regularities of language change
might reflect these universals as well as does first language acquisition and better than
do native-speaker intuitions of grammaticality+
Chapters of this Handbook are in many cases arguments for cutting-edge positions
of their authors: Ohalas explanation of the relatively rare cases of dissimilatory change
~pp+ 669686!, Heines counterargument to the claim that grammaticalization is not a
special case of language change ~pp+ 575601!, and Bybees presentation of evidence of
the importance of frequency in grammaticalization ~pp+ 602623; extensively developed
in her 2001 book!+
A case in point concerns an old and contentious issue in historical linguistics: the
regularity of sound change versus lexical diffusion ~the seeming limitation of sound
change to certain words or to the exclusion of certain words!+ Kiparsky argues the neogrammarian positionthat sound change occurs in regular, phonetically defined environments and oblivious to the particularity of words ~pp+ 313342!+ However, the
counterevidence of lexical diffusion has been around since the first dialectologists, with
their claim that every word has its own history+ The issue is of fundamental importance for the theory of language: whether there exists a sound system independent of
the arbitrary sound-meaning relations of the lexicon+ Kiparsky arguesand the editors
Joseph and Janda agree ~p+ 115!that the evidence of lexical diffusion arises only as
the result of analogy and dialect borrowing, after a regular sound change has ceased to
be effective+
This position is presented, unfortunately, without contrast to the differentif perhaps compatibleclaim of Labov ~although he is not among the authors of the Handbook, he endorses it on the jacket!+ According to Labov, lexical diffusion happens after

484

Reviews

a sound change achieves a level of abstractness or consciousness for a speaker ~cf+

Labov, 1994!+
This criticism is not meant to cancel a confident recommendation of this book to
those interested in fundamental findings and current issues in historical linguistics+
REFERENCES
Bybee, J+ ~2001!+ Phonology and language use+ New York: Cambridge University Press+
Doughty, C+ J+, & Long, M+ H+ ~Eds+!+ ~2003!+ The handbook of second language acquisition+ Oxford:
Blackwell+
Chambers, J+ K+, Trudgill, P+, & Schilling-Estes, N+ ~Eds+!+ ~2003!+ The handbook of language variation
and change+ Oxford: Blackwell+
Labov, W+ ~1994!+ Principles of linguistic change: Internal factors+ Oxford: Blackwell+

~Received 21 July 2004!

Grover Hudson
Michigan State University

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105340204

AN INTRODUCTION TO CONTACT LINGUISTICS. Donald Winford+ Oxford:

Blackwell, 2003+ Pp+ xvii 416+ $77+95 cloth, $38+95 paper+
Winford begins with a thorough review of the literature on language contact and an
outline of the areas of disputefor instance, challenges to the family tree view of language change and the resistance of many to accept explanations for change that are
not internally motivated+ He believes that more debate is necessary concerning the
degree of language mixing in all languages and laments the continued belief held by
some historical linguists that contact-induced change plays littleif anyrole in change+
In the second chapter, Winford expounds on how different levels of community bilingualism can affect outcomes of language contact+ He also details social motivators for
lexical borrowing and suggests a hierarchical model as a means of predicting what will
most likely be borrowed+ According to Winford, Lexical borrowing must therefore be
seen as just one aspect of a creative process of lexical change under contact, which
builds on both native and foreign resources ~p+ 59!+
Chapter 3 opens with the following question: Does all structural borrowing result
from lexical borrowing or can it happen independently? Unlike Thomason and Kaufman
~1988!, Winford remains unconvinced that structural borrowing occurs independently
of lexical borrowing because constraints on maintained languages are quite severe
with the exception of derivational morphology, which is argued to be more lexical than
morphological+ He cites evidence of constraints based on transparency and markedness in many instances of morphological borrowing ~p+ 95! and makes a convincing
argument for transparency for both typologically similar and distant languages for derivational and inflectional morphology alike+
Chapters 4 and 5 focus on social and structural contexts of code-switching+ Winford
covers well the range of competing theories about what motivates code-switching and

Reviews

485

constrains the output of diverse groups of speakers+ He tackles the difficult issue of
differentiating between diglossia, code-switching, and borrowing in bilingual communities and distinguishes between these and the language mixing of second language
learners+
The chapter on bilingual mixed languages is perhaps the strongest in terms of scope
and depth of coverage+ He provides detailed case studies of Media Lengua and Michif,
which have maintained their original structures but have experienced massive lexical
borrowing, and compared them to Maa and Copper Island Aleut, which have undergone massive structural change+
In the chapter on SLA and language shift, Winford effectively covers the broad scope
of types of contact and then sifts through the varied, overlapping, and often not welldefined terms to describe language transfer, interference, and borrowing+ He provides
thorough analyses of Irish and Singapore Englishes, which have manifested simplification along with the transfer of first language features+
In the final two chapters, Winford neatly deals with defining pidgins and creoles and
the problems with the use of these labels for contact vernaculars that do not fit traditional classifications ~e+g+, Hiri Motu!+ He provides comprehensive descriptions of the
sociocultural and structural features of pidgins and creoles and clearly differentiates
them from fellow travelers who may share some sociocultural and structural features+
Finally, he provides a treatment of restructuring, transfer, and relexification as well
as a thoughtful account of why creoles vary so much by taking into consideration the
demographics of founder populations and differences in the social setting ~homestead
vs+ plantation!+
Considering the topic of the book, the question I kept in my head throughout was:
What does Winford do that Thomason and Kaufman ~1988! do not? The answer is a
simple one: Winfords book is aimed at a different audience+ Thomason and Kaufman
assumed their readers had significant linguistic background, whereas the Winford text
is quite accessible to graduate-level students+ From a pedagogical standpoint, it is an
excellent choice for a textbook+ He provides many examples covering a broad range of
languages+ Each chapter includes exercises for students that run the gamut of linguistic
topics+ Additionally, he presents an excellent sampling of case studies with well-glossed
example and provides useful adaptations of the tables from Thomason and Kaufman
and others+ The information is somewhat simplified for the use of students+
Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the field because
Winford is outstanding in taking what are often considered disparate phenomena and
providing a unifying frameworkcovering both sociolinguistic and theoretical perspectivesfrom which to understand them+ He presents the questions that both frustrate and intrigue researchers in contact linguistics and makes suggestions for directions
for further research+ Students of the field will find many ideas for original research+

REFERENCE
Thomason, S+, & Kaufman, T+ ~1988!+ Language contact, creolization, and genetic linguistics+ Berkeley:
University of California Press+

~Received 3 August 2004!

Elizabeth Grace Winkler

University of Arizona

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DOI: 10+10170S0272263105350200

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY: LECTURES ON

APPLIED LINGUISTICS IN THE AGE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY. Carol Chapelle+ Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2003+ Pp+ xv
211+ $39+95 paper+
In this volume compiled from several years of recent lectures, Chapelle synthesizes
research on technology and language learning to lay bare theoretical questions of SLA
and second language ~L2! assessment that can be reformulated, pushed forward, and
reevaluated through technology+ She argues that, in order to do so, it is necessary
that the field of applied linguistics engage more consciously and proactively with the
complex language-technology reality in which the profession is working ~p+ xii! and
that technology must not be viewed simply as a tool of efficiency in L2 research and
assessment+
Her discussion of this language-technology reality begins with the state of technology in the L2 classroom, itself a reflection of the changing levels of technology in everyday society+ She notes that as technology becomes more seamlessly integrated into the
everyday, the presence of technology in education, and the potential technology holds
to advance theory and practice, threatens to become invisible+
The first four chapters raise awareness of the increasingly invisible layer of technology ~e+g+, e-mail, online bulletin boards, HTML, concordancers, hypertext glosses,
computer-administered tests, video and audio files! as it is used in the development of
language learning software and tasks, the exploration of L2 learning processes, and the
investigation of language learners use of technology+ These preceding chapters serve
to introduce current research in computer-assisted language learning and to lay the
groundwork for the central contribution of this book: the potential technology holds
for addressing theoretical and not just practical issues in SLA+ Specifically, Chapelle
identifies two key directions for which technology holds promise to push forward, reformulate and reevaluate current theory: L2 learning tasks ~chapter 5! and L2 assessment
~chapter 6!+
Chapter 5 addresses the potential for technology to identify and evaluate task features not already adopted by interactionist and cognitivist frameworks for language learning tasks+ For example, such features include the heightened importance of task topic
when computer-mediated communication is used to link diverse combinations of interlocutors and the remote and multimodal nature of CMC-oriented tasks, which promotes
linguistic and nonlinguistic forms of interaction specific to textual or non-face-to-face
environments+ This chapter sets forth valuable directions for task theory that recognize and examine the intersection of tasks and technology+
In chapter 6, Chapelle proposes that the definitive goal of computer-assisted language assessmentthat of making more efficient testsbe expanded to include that of
refining assessment theory+ She notes that such a shift requires that applied linguists
move away from viewing computer-administered and evaluated tests as virtual extensions of their paper-based counterparts and, instead, utilize and explore the properties
unique to computer-assisted language assessment+ Chapelle justifies this shift in perspective by highlighting the ability for technology-assisted scoring to measure larger
quantities of discrete markers of L2 performance in comparison to the more holistic
scoring of human raters+ She maintains that this discrete point scoring ability requires
more explicit clarification of the constructs being measuredan exactness not required

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487

of traditionally administered and evaluated instruments+ She also makes a convincing

case for recognizing the validity of computer-administered tests when assessing learner
language produced in computer-mediated or computer-enhanced environments+
Most significantly, this book elucidates the potential for technology to be used to
broaden task and assessment theory in ways not attainable through traditional methods+ It also calls into question the tendency in applied linguistics for technology to be
relegated to issues of practice and efficiency+ In highlighting the ability for technology
to push the bounds of relevant theory, Chapelle calls upon researchers to critically examine and utilize the intersection of technology and applied linguistics in ways that match
our language-technology reality+
~Received 10 August 2004!

Shannon Sauro
University of Pennsylvania

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105360207

AN INTEGRATED VIEW OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: PAPERS IN HONOR

OF HENNING WODE. Petra Burmeister, Thorsten Piske, and Andreas Rohde
(Eds.)+ Trier, Germany: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2002+ Pp+ xxv 552+ 40+00 Y
paper+

Wodes lifetime of scholarship can be divided loosely into three general research areas,
each of which comprises one section of this edited volume: theory-building in first ~L1!
and second ~L2! language acquisition, the development of speech production and perception skills in L1 and L2, and immersion education and foreign language teaching+
This first area of work, dating from the 1970s and early 1980s, draws in part from Wodes
detailed analysis of the language of his four young children+ The second, initiated in
1989 with Pieper, stems from a large-scale study of early phonological development+
Finally, the third, begun in the wake of European integration, came out of his work to
support immersion programs and language learning in preschools and elementary and
secondary institutions+
In the early 1980s, Wode argued in papers in Studies in Second Language Acquisition
and elsewhere that a complete understanding of language acquisition would only be
reached through an integrated approach, drawing on theory and research from the fields
of L1 acquisition, L2 acquisition, pathological language acquisition, and classroom pedagogy, among other areas ~Wode, 1981!+ This edited volume of 28 papers, organized to
honor Wodes 65th birthday, aims to reflect this approach and includes work from linguists, psychologists, and education specialists on topics as wide-ranging as, for instance,
the biological correlates of L1 acquisition ~Pieper!, metaphorical analysis of learner
beliefs ~Ellis!, orthographic input in L2 phonological development ~Young-Scholten!, and
acquisition strategies for German in Alsatian immersion classrooms ~Petit!+
The contributors to the volume likewise reflect Wodes professional history+ Wode
spent most of his academic life at Kiel University, with visiting positions in Canada and
Australia, among other locations+ Nineteen of the papers are by researchers based at
German universities, and 24 of the 28 authors are at European institutions+ Many con-

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tributors are former students or co-authors+ Others, such as MacWhinney, Pienemann,

and Clyne, are well-established colleagues with shared research interests+
Taken together, the papers are impressive in both their depth and breadth; at least
10 different subareas of applied linguistics are represented here in considerable detail,
with many of the papers geared toward specialists in those particular subareas+ As noted
above, Wode has argued for an integrated approach to the study of language acquisition that takes into account multiple types of data+ Not surprisingly given the difficulty
of the charge, this volume is much stronger on the presentation of these different
approaches than on the integration of them+ Indeed, the papers here represent a remarkable diversity of disciplinary and paradigmatic approaches ~e+g+, Lysters argument for
differentiating between the negotiation of form and meaning in classroom interaction,
Reinicke and Sendlmeiers analysis of the early development of acoustic-phonetic parameters, or Rhodes discussion of the aspect hypothesis and the L2 reacquisition of verbal inflections!+ However, the integration of these approaches is largely left up to the
reader+ For instance, there is no integrative introduction or conclusion to the volume,
and the papers do not refer to each other and are not linked across themes, instead
standing more or less independently+
For this reason, the volume is probably not suitable as a textbook for an
undergraduate- or even graduate-level course+ The volume will, however, be of interest
to several groups: first, to applied linguists who wish to keep up with European, and in
particular German, research in the field of applied linguistics; second, to those who
want a broad overview of the state of the art in several subareas of applied linguistics,
combined with some specific research findings in those areas; or finally, to those who
seek to learn more about the research interests and impressive contributions of Wode+
REFERENCE
Wode, H+ ~1981! Language acquisition, pidgins, and creoles+ Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
2, 193200+

~Received 18 August 2004!

Kendall A. King
Georgetown University

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105370203

SITUATION-BOUND UTTERANCES IN Ll AND L2. Istvan Kecskes+ Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2003+ Pp+ x 228+ $118 cloth+
This volume discusses issues related to situation-bound utterances ~SBUs!a particular type of formulaic expressionfrom a cognitive-pragmatic perspective+ It consists of
an introduction, nine chapters, and a conclusion+ The introduction defines SBUs, briefly
presents the theoretical framework, and points to the key topics to be discussed in the
book+ These key topics include the distinction between linguistic and conceptual knowledge ~chapter 1!+ This is important to Kecskes dynamic model of meaning ~DMM!, which
consists of culture-specific conceptual properties ~CSCP!or attributes of a particular
conceptat the conceptual level and word-specific semantic properties ~WSP! at the

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489

lexical level+ Uniting these two levels yields the coresense of the SBU, the most salient
decontextualized sense of the utterance+ This contrasts with the SBUs consenses, or
other senses that the utterance can have depending on the context ~chapter 2!+ The
sense that is accessed in a particular situation will depend on the salience of the various meanings to the hearer, which, in turn, depends on the hearers prior knowledge as
well as the contextual cues available, which can bias the interpretation toward a particular consense ~chapter 3!+ It is hypothesized ~chapter 4! that the more structurally
and culturally similar the first language ~L1! and second language ~L2!, the easier for
the learner to interpret the meaning of SBUs in the L2 ~chapter 4!+ This hypothesis is
supported by empirical evidence in chapter 9+ Interpretation of the meaning of a SBU
can be difficult because the meaning is not usually readily transparent from its components ~chapter 5!+ In this way, SBUs are unlike patterned formulas, which have a compositional structure and whose meanings are typically transparent and which, therefore,
can play a role in the acquisition of grammar ~chapter 7!+ Ultimately, in order to accurately interpret and appropriately use SBUs in the L2, learners must undergo a process
of conceptual socialization+ The knowledge base underlying their language use must be
transformed from a system that is originally an Ll conceptual system to a dual-language
system, thus forming a common underlying conceptual base ~CUCB! for the two languages ~chapter 8!+
To test his hypotheses, Kecskes conducted two experiments to see how native ~NS!
and nonnative ~NNS! speakers interpreted and produced SBUs under different conditions+ In both cases, he found that the difficulties NNS experienced in their performance were due to their lack of conceptual fluency in the target language and culture
as opposed to a lack of linguistic knowledge per se ~chapters 6 and 9!+ Finally, a brief
conclusion highlights key concepts and findings discussed in the book+
One key concept of value to those working within language socialization and interlanguage pragmatics ~ILP! paradigms is that of conceptual socialization, which provides an explanation of the mental processes associated with L2 socialization and with
the acquisition of sociopragmatic competence, respectively+ L2 socialization theory particularly has focused primarily on social interaction and its contribution to SLA+ Although
language socializationists would not likely agree with Kecskes position on the primacy
of mental processes in SLA, I believe his notion of conceptual socialization is otherwise
compatible with and complementary to L2 socialization theory+ By combining both
approaches and examining SLA in terms of social interaction and mental activity, we
can obtain a more complete picture of SLA+
Another strength of the book is the authors attempt to define and clarify his terms
and to explain how they differ from similar terms+ However, I would like to have seen
him do this with respect to ILP theory as well, given that his research clearly falls within
that domain+ For example, his linguistic units ~the formulaic expressions used in SBUs!
seem identical to pragmalinguistics, whereas his extralinguistic factors seem similarif
not identicalto sociopragmatics+ Some explicit discussion of whether he considers
his terminology equivalent to these commonly used ILP terms or distinct from them
would have been helpful+
Another problem with the book is its abundance of errors in grammar, punctuation,
missing references, and inconsistencies between in-text and end-of-text citations+ The
number of errors combined with the organization made the text less than reader-friendly+
In spite of these shortcomings, I believe that the book is well worth reading, particularly for those who are interested in ILP or L2 socialization because of the insights it
provides into the mental processes associated with the acquisition of L2 use+ It pro-

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vides food for thought and has the power to stimulate dialogue on the relationship
between L2 and culture acquisition+
~Received 19 August 2004!

Margaret A. DuFon
California State UniversityChico

DOI: 10+10170S027226310538020X

LINGUISTICS: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION. P. H. Matthews+ Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2003+ Pp+ xiii 134+ $9+95 paper+
This volume belongs to Oxfords series of Very Short Introductions to topics, events,
texts, philosophies, individuals, and places+ Unlike many contemporary linguistic texts
written for introductory college courses, its chapters do not proceed from one area of
structural analysis to another and then conclude with a few chapters on topics such as
language acquisition and writing systems+ Instead, this book focuses on some of the
more philosophical questions associated with the field, which, no doubt, hold greater
interest for the public at large+ The exploration of structures is left to supporting examples and a chapter on sounds near the end of the book+
Matthews begins by noting the advantages and disadvantages of our insider position as human beings when we attempt to take an objective, scientific approach to the
study of language+ He then discusses how language might have evolved within our species and considers Chomskys emphasis on the role of genetic inheritance and others
focus on cultural processes+ He examines how languages change over time and vary
within their dialects, the role variation plays as an impetus for change, and the repercussions of a single change within a language+ This discussion leads to a chapter on
language families and how linguists reconstruct contemporary languages ancestors as
well as a chapter that looks at variation across modern languages+ Matthews then
presents and responds to the following questions: ~a! What is language? ~b! Does the
language system exist in the community or in the individual? ~c! How much of language
is systematic? ~d! Are the rules that constrain a language absolute? He notes that language can be studied at various levels of abstraction, which he illustrates in a chapter
entitled Sounds, and that the study of language appeals to both those who revel in its
less systematic aspects and those who are attracted to the search for patterns+ The
final chapter of the book examines the relationship between language and the brain
and stresses that we do not yet know how what happens physically in our brains relates
to, for example, our understanding of a sentence+
This small book covers much ground+ Matthews presents differing perspectives with
respect and fairness+ The multiple viewpoints are stimulating and refreshing+ The clear
presence of the authors voice, his inclusion of the ideas and photos of a number of
leaders in the field ~pictured are Sweet, Jones, Saussure, and Chomsky!, his examples
from a wide variety of languages, and his quotes from literary texts all add interest+ For
many of us who have studied linguistics and have a special interest in SLA, this text
offers an opportunity to step back and look once again at the broad philosophical questions that initially attracted us to this field of study and its applications+

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491

Despite the quality of the ideas in this book, had I been Matthews editor, I would
have had several suggestions+ First, the book is printed in what appears to be 9-point
Times font, which is too small to be inviting+ To keep the number of pages in the text
within the very short limits of the series, a better solution would have been to cut or
shorten parts of the book+ The chapter on sounds, which serves to illustrate levels of
abstraction in language analysis, could have been omitted and the same point made at
the end of the chapter on systems with a brief example or two+ Also, the morphological
descriptions used to illustrate the types of distinction some languages make are more
detailed than what would be needed or perhaps even welcomed by nonlinguists+
I would also suggest that a number of the ideas in the text be illustrated with examples from morphology or syntax rather than phonology+ The phonological examples from
English are limited in their effectiveness because English pronunciation differs so much
from place to place+ I suspect that the transcriptions of the British dialect used for the
illustrations are of little help to readers with no background in linguistics, the targeted
audience for this book+ Finally, I would propose that the organization of the text, from
the arts end of the subject + + + to the latest in scientific research ~as stated on the
inside flap of the front cover!, be noted within the first chapter and highlighted briefly
at the end of the book+ This would give the reader a clearer sense of the path taken
throughout the text and prevent the book from ending abruptly+
~Received 19 August 2004!

Cheryl Eason
Central Missouri State University

DOI: 10+10170S0272263105390206

THE HANDBOOK OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS. Alan Davies and Catherine Elder

(Eds.)+ Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004+ Pp+ x 866+ $146+95 cloth+
Davies and Elders volume is the latest in the Blackwell series of Handbooks in Linguistics+ In this volume, the editors compile over 30 newly commissioned, well-written, and
comprehensive articles that provide an in-depth view of the field of applied linguistics+
Unlike Cooks ~2003! recent introduction to applied linguistics for nonspecialists, the
Davies and Elder volume shares the same intended audiencestudents and researchers in applied linguistics, language teaching, and SLAas the works of McCarthy ~2001!,
McDonough ~2002!, and Seidlhofer ~2003!+ Because of its comprehensive nature, this
volume would best serve as a reference tool for SLA scholars and applied linguists rather
than as a course text+
The handbook of applied linguistics is divided into two parts: readings that reflect
linguistics applied ~L-A! and those that represent applied linguistics ~A-L!+ The editors
generally distinguish between these two disciplines in the following manner: L-A refers
to the use of language data to develop our linguistic knowledge about language ~p+ 11!
and thus inform linguistic theory, whereas A-L fulfills a more socially responsive role
by studying a language problem + + + with a view to correcting it ~p+ 11!+ However, the
editors note that the distinction between L-A and A-L is only sustainable at the extremes
and that many of the papers designated as either L-A or A-L could have easily been
categorized under the other rubric+ Thus, the editors conclude that this distinction might

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lie in the research orientation of the scholars themselvesfor example, does a researcher
wish to validate a theory ~L-A!, solve a practical problem ~A-L!, or perhaps accomplish
both goals?
Chapters listed under the L-A rubric include the following: Language Descriptions
and Lexicography ~section 1!; SLA and Ultimate Attainment, Language Corpora and
Discourse Analysis ~section 2!; British Sign Language, Assessing Language Attitudes:
Speaker Evaluation Studies, Language Attrition, Language, Thought and Culture, and Conversation Analysis ~section 3!; Language and the Law, Language and Gender, and Stylistics ~section 4!; Language and Politics and World Englishes ~section 5!; and The
Philosophy of Applied Linguistics ~section 6!+ On the other hand, the A-L chapters contain the following: The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics, Language Minorities, and
for Applied Linguistics: Scope Characteristics and Standards ~section 7!; Second Language Learning, Individual Differences in Second Language Learning, and Social Influences on Language Learning and Literary Studies ~section 8!; Fashions in Language
Teaching Methodology, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Language Teacher Education, the Practice of Languages for Special Purposes, and Bilingual Education ~section 9!; Language Maintenance, Language Planning as Applied Linguistics, Language
Testing ~section 10!; and Critical Applied Linguistics ~section 11!+
To provide an explanation of the organizational infrastructure of the volume, the
editors provide an introduction to each of the two divisions of the bookL-A and A-Lin
which they painstakingly explain their categorizations of the 32 chapters into 11 different subsections, which move from the most linguistic ~theoretical or descriptive! topics to the most applied+ Although this effort is laudable, the fact that the distinction
between the two orientations is by their own admission often difficult to discern, some
of the categorization rationalizations seem somewhat forced and overly defensive+ In
fact, the inordinate amount of time the editors spend on justifying their categorizations
of the papers into either L-A or A-L distracts from their introductions of the papers
themselves+
To conclude, Davies and Elders volume makes a valuable contribution to the field
of applied linguistics by demonstrating that the gap that once existed between the traditions of formal linguistics and applied linguistics is closing and that the result of this
gap closure might be a more symbiotic and fruitful relationship between linguistic theory
and its application+
REFERENCES
Cook, G+ ~2003!+ Applied linguistics+ Oxford: Oxford University Press+
McCarthy, M+ ~2001!+ Issues in applied linguistics+ New York: Cambridge University Press+
McDonough, S+ ~2002!+ Applied linguistics in language education+ London: Arnold+
Seidlhofer, B+ ~2003!+ Controversies in applied linguistics+ Oxford: Oxford University Press+

~Received 25 August 2004!

Barbara A. Lafford
Arizona State University